On Oct 9, 2023, a delegation led by NRNA Denmark met with the leadership of Niels Brock college to bring attention to the ongoing challenges faced by Nepalese students in Copenhagen.
The meeting included the following delegate members representing Nepalese students
| 1 | Mr. Tirtha Aryal | Deputy Mission Chief, Nepalese Embassy |
| 2 | Mr. Kamal Raj Sharma | President, NRNA Denmark |
| 3 | Sudip Shrestha | Member, NRNA Help Desk & President INAS Denmark |
| 4 | Bhuwan Khadka | Youth Coordinator, NRNA Denmark |
| 5 | Utsav Adhikari | Representative, NepSap Denmark |
| 6 | Rachana Tamang | Alumni, NBC & President Tamang Samaj Denmark |
The meeting included the following members who represented Niels Brock college.
| 1 | Charlotte Forsberg | Executive Vice President, NBCB |
| 2 | Christina Hansen | Head of Administration |
| 3 | Jacob Fagervold Levorsen | Head of legal |
| 4 | Lisbeth Sivertsen | Student Affairs Coordinator |
Key Topics Discussed
- Multiple Nepalese forums in Denmark (including but not limited to: NRNA, Social-Media groups such as: Nepalese living in Denmark) are overwhelmed by housing and CPR registration inquiries from newly arrived Nepalese students admitted in Niels Brock college
- Students lack the needed awareness on costs of living, practical guides on finding accommodation and CPR-registration processes despite Niels Brock’s best efforts in providing such information
- Students are also facing challenges in adopting to the values and principles of Danish Society, leading to not trusting the information that they might have been given, not reaching out to proper authorities for help, and falling for housing scams
Ongoing Response from Niels Brock College
- Niels Brock college is currently liaising with Housing Companies to find accommodation for the students in current and January intake. Niels Brock also highlighted the need for accommodation that is both affordable and can address the needs of their students (couple rooms).
- Niels Brock college has hired a student representative from Nepalese origin and is planning to launch an internal program where students will be able to reach out for direct inquiries.
Action Items and Decisions
- Establishment of the taskforce: Niels Brock will establish a taskforce consisting of internal student ambassadors and external members from respective Nepalese forums to address the challenges above
- Improvement on the current Marketing efforts – Niels Brock is aware about the gaps in the current messaging strategy and will work with the taskforce to align the messaging and channel efforts to mitigate these gaps
- Collecting Data: Niels Brock will conduct a survey among their students to better understand the situation of their Nepalese (and all) students. This data will be used for comparative analysis once the response efforts are made to measure the effectiveness of the response efforts.
Meeting with MD of Dewarshi Education, Nepal:
Attendees: From left: Kamal Raj Sharma (President), Gurudatta Lamichhane (Former Youth Coordinator), Manisha Singh (Vice President-women), Bidur Thapa (MD- Dewarshi Education), Ramesh Kafle (Former Regional youth coordinator, Europe), Dipak Raj Rijal (ICC member) and Ramesh Adhikari (Former Treasurer)
Summary:
It was fruitful meeting with Mr. Bidur Thapa, MD of Dewarshi Education who is authorized consultant for Nepalese students in Neils Brock College. There are challenges for Nepalese students while relocating in new country. Financial burden, accommodation and education are three major challenges students have to face when they move to Denmark.
NRNA NCC Denmark and Dewarshi has planned to collaborate for the betterment of Nepalese students. Collaboration can be in the form of helping students through NRNA help desk, organizing an interaction program in Dewarshi Education, working hand in hand with Neils Brock College and so on.
Since Dewarshi Education has always been proactive to convey any messages regarding Denmark, students seem not to follow instructions carefully.Hence, consultancy has decided to come up with new form and students will be more interested in their new journey to Denmark. NRNA NCC Denmark has already visited Neils Brock College.
Therefore, meeting with Mr. Bidur Thapa has added more understanding on the process and collaboration with Dewarshi Education.
NRNA Denmark also conducted a survey in a Facebook group “Nepalese Living in Denmark” to collect the information regarding the challenges faced by newly arrived Nepalese students.
Disclaimer: The line of questioning is oriented towards the student that faced challenges after arriving in Denmark. By no means, the response sample in the survey represents all students admitted in Niels Brock college, but only those students who faced issues and decided to respond to the survey. NRNA Denmark is aware that there are many students that were able to arrive and settle at Denmark without any issues.
The response of the survey can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13ai9Mby33lXyKxAryHeAw0qD9UQA3B3LoIGc0ZK8lRk/edit?usp=sharing
Here are some of the highlights from the survey.
Total Participants: 71
Response to the Survey:
